The San Diego-based fighter took the fight with Gracie, a fellow UFC newcomer (and member of the famed Gracie clan), on just seven days’ notice. In fact, just a few weeks prior, he had defeated ex-UFC fighter Houston Alexander at a 5150 Combat show in Oklahoma.

That fight – a scheduled five-rounder that Alexander lost via second-round TKO – had Beltran physically prepared for his Feb. 6 bout at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Admittedly, his mental game was a different matter as the fight began.

“I wasn’t really fighting Rolles Gracie,” Beltran said. “I was fighting the event. I box way better than I did in that event. I had the jitters. (There’s) no way he should have been able to hit me that cleanly. But it was like my feet were in concrete. It does affect you, the event and all the hype.”

In fact, Beltran first felt the thrill and jitters on the eve of the show at the official fighter weigh-ins. Even he had to laugh about it.

“I was freaking out a bit backstage,” he joked. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘What the hell is going on? I don’t even have to do anything today.’ But it’s weird when you see all the fans and taste the crowd.

“I even had friends back home (who were watching the weigh-ins) saying I looked scared. It’s just that (while) backstage, I felt like I was waiting forever.”

As it turned out, Gracie’s aggression actually worked to Beltran’s advantage. The heavy-footed Gracie plodded across the cage with sloppy striking, but he eventually got the fight to the mat, secured the mount position, and then took his opponent’s back and worked for a rear-naked choke.

Determined not to go out in such lopsided fashion on MMA’s biggest stage, Beltran snapped awake, ignored where he was, and instead focused on whom he was fighting.

“After that (escape), my confidence went through the roof,” he said. “I have a good sense of what’s going on in my fights. I could see he was breathing hard and lunging forward with shots. I knew it was just a matter of time before he went down.”

Gracie survived the round, but early in the second, the gas tank was empty. So when he telegraphed a takedown attempt and flopped to his stomach, Beltran easily unloaded dozens of blows to force the TKO stoppage.

Beltran said the performance was “a big I love you, too” to all the media and online MMA fans “who predicted Gracie (would win) by any way he wants,” he joked.

Beltran, who said he weighed nearly 315 pounds before he began MMA training, said he’s happy now at his current weight of 238 pounds. He said he’s big enough not to get bullied around by the division’s bigger guys but nimble enough to keep his cardio strong and his footwork quick.

As for what’s next, though, for the successful UFC newcomer, Beltran said he’s simply waiting for a call from the UFC’s matchmaker.

“Right now, I’m just waiting for Joe Silva to tell me what he wants me to do,” Beltran said. “We’ll go from there.”

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